I think this was a Higley move that Corday supported. That's the only logical thing. Shawn and Belle were front and center and then word broke that Hogan's team was canned and Higley and her team were coming out and then Shawn and Belle were being written out. I don't think Higley knew what to do with Shawn and Belle not together, and so she wanted to reunite them. And then Corday probably felt that it would be better to reunite the two and send them out of town so that fans can remember them being together without going through anything else. That way, fans will remember the last time they saw Shawn and Belle, they were together. The same way he sent Jack and Jennifer out of town. They had to leave happy together so that their fans would be happy and continue to watch even though their favorites are gone.

There were also rumors that Brandon Beemer and/or Martha Madison were difficult to work with. If you want to believe those rumors, go ahead. There's no way to prove or disprove them.

I had never heard that Madison and Beemer were tough to work with. Madison could still come back. I never thought Zuker would be back and here she is now the lead actress on the show :)

Why did you think Zucker would not be back?

I never saw her being a smash in primetime unless she was on a sitcom. I thought it would take awhile longer for her to return but I always felt she would return at some point.

I agree, Drew, Hope learning the truth was brilliant. What I liked the most was how much the story focused on Belle's appearing perfect to so many people and how she perceived herself as having to be that way. She always wanted to do the right thing and I just loved all the focus on her not being so perfect after all. It reminded me of how the John/Marlena affair story knocked Marlena off her pedestal and forced her and others to confront the fact that she was not a saint. The parallels to the affair story were the big reason I loved the Phelle story so much. I still remember a bedroom talk Shelle had. He mentioned how perfect she was in every way and Belle got deflated and said she wasn't perfect. Far from it . Brilliant stuff.